Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream (Dairy Free, Primal, Vegan)

2012 June 28

Ahhh summer. Its just not the same without ice cream, and I am telling you, the perfect ice cream is kind of my little holy grail. It has to be thick, rich, not too sweet, creamy, and simple to make. A tall order, but, that’s what experimenting is for!

I really wanted to call this Nutella Ice Cream, but, I figured that would be pushing the limits of trying to sell you on something “healthy-ish”. lol.

For my Nut Free Friends- if you can have dairy, go ahead and use regular cream (about 3-4 cups), and whisk in 3-4 tempered egg yolks during the simmering process. Alternatively, you can try rice, oat, hemp, or flax milks, but there will not be as much fat. To replace the hazelnuts, use home roasted and ground sunflower seeds.

Ok, enough chitchat, lets get on to the recipe!

Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream (Dairy Free, Vegan, Primal)

MyRealFoodLife.com

NOTE: if you don’t have hazelnut extract, add a shot of frangellico for an ‘adult’ version, or Torani hazelnut syrup for a kid version (has sugar in it), or a generous helping of vanilla extract. Otherwise, you can use a shot of espresso or some espresso powder to give it a kick.

Roast the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees until the skins crack and darken (about 10 min), and the nut underneath appears to be going golden.

Rub off the skins, and re-roast the nuts till they are dark gold if you want a stronger Hazelnut flavour.

With a generous pinch of salt (like almost 1/8 tsp), add the nuts to a food processor or blender and blend until they are finely ground you get almost like a thick paste starting. Add in the cocoa powder and mix together.

In a saucepan, add the hazelnut chocolate mix, the honey, the dates and the coconut milk.

Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for about 5 min, stirring continuously so nothing burns. You want this mixed it as much as you can, and you will want to puree the dates, so, I find a hand / immersion blender works really well. (you could put in a regular blender or food processor but let it cool first!).

Pour in a glass dish and add in 3 heaping spoonfuls of hazelnut extract with the hazelnuts in it (or any of the other options, to taste.). Keep in mind- if you use the alcohol it will keep the ice cream soft (yum!).